Coming up on three months!!

Wow...I'm just getting worse and worse, aren't I?!

Soooo much has happened! I swear Gabriel does something new every day! He is a happy boy--always smiling and laughing and I absolutely melt every time!





I can't say it enough--he is SUCH a joy to have!! I love him more than anything!! I love being Gabriel's mommy. And he loves me back, which is more than I could ask for. It's hard to believe that he was conceived about this time last year. WOW.....it's just crazy!

Gabriel is growing and developing at lightspeed!! As you can see, he laughs a lot (at the most random things, too). He recently learned that he can blow spit bubbles and is always gurgling some out--HA! He chatters and googly-goo's all the time. He can hold and shake rattles and other toys. His favorite toys are simple plastic links and "Freddy the Firefly". I LOVE the Lamaze toys!! I plan on getting him more of them in the near future. As always (pretty much from the first week!) he kicks a LOT. He can stand on his own too!! That is to say he can stand and hold his own weight--but he can't balance, obviously, so I do have to keep my hands on him or at the ready so he won't fall over. Gabe loves to be bounced. Sometimes when nothing else will calm him down, I sit him on my knee and start bouncing and he stops crying immediately. A lot of the time if he's crying, though, all I have to do is sit him on my lap and he is content to just be hanging out with everyone. He is a very smart, strong, handsome little man and I love him dearly!

Gabe is now drinking about six ounces at a time (about every 2-3 hours). He usually goes to bed around ten and sleeps until about seven or eight the next morning, which is AWESOME. Then, of course, he takes naps throughout the day. We have a lot of fun playing and laughing together. I'm going to start teaching him sign language soon--that should be interesting!

Gabriel loves car rides--but I think all babies do. He likes to go for walks in his stroller and he LOVES the beach. I haven't gotten him out in the water yet. I lay out a small blanket on the sand and set him (in his car seat) on the blanket and he listens to the waves and just hangs out or falls asleep. Speaking of sleep--he loves taking naps with mamma (which is awesome because it gives me an excuse to nap during the day LOL). His favorite place to sleep is on my chest. He's a tummy sleeper, which kinda made me nervous until he started being able to push himself up. He has been able to lift his head for a few months now (again, pretty much from the beginning) so he has excellent head and neck control now.

His personality is coming out more and more every day. He is such a funny baby!! Gabe makes us laugh all day. I call him "Bubba" and "Honu", which is Hawaiian for 'turtle'. He is mamma's little honu. I can't even imagine life without him! Having Gabriel has completely enriched my life. Everything seems more fun and exciting now! He lights up every aspect of my life and, though being a single parent has been a struggle in many ways, I wouldn't trade being a parent for anything in the world. At the end of the day, I want nothing more than to be with my son. My baby boy. My angel.